Doane Women Rally to Knock Off KWU

A big second half pushed the Doane women’s basketball team to an 86-77 win over Kansas Wesleyan on Friday night at Mabee Arena in the Coyote Classic.

KWU led 51-40 at halftime, but the Tigers outscored the Coyotes 46-26 in the second half to get the win.

Doane opened the half on an 11-4 spurt to cut the Coyote lead to four at 55-51 on free throws by Jenna Nieveen. The Coyotes responded with a bucket by Alecia Smith and free throws by Vanessa Kresin to lead 59-51.

Doane started another push toward the lead, going on an 11-1 run to take a 64-62 lead on a basket by Alyssa Willicott with 9:56 left.

The Coyotes would get six straight points from the line to go back in front, but there were five more lead changes. Doane took the last one on a basket by Shelbi Bittinger to go up 77-76 with 2:46 left.

The Coyotes tied the game at 77 on a free throw by Christian Cassity, but Doane scored the final nine points of the game to pick up the win.

It was tight early, as the Coyotes and Tigers traded the lead seven times and were tied five times in the first 8:05 of the game. However, the Coyotes used a 14-2 run, featuring six points from Brittany Stever, to take a 32-22 lead. Doane closed within five at 32-27, but the Coyotes answered with a three by Vanessa Kresin to go back up eight. The bucket started a 10-3 run to push the lead to 12 at 42-30. The Coyotes led by as much as 13 to close the half, and led by 11, 51-40, at the break.

The Coyotes shot 60 percent from the floor in the first half, while Doane hit 54 percent of its shots. In the second half, it was a much different story for the Coyotes, as they hit just four of 23 shots at 17 percent in the half and finished at 42 percent on the game. Doane shot 45 percent in the game.

The Tigers outrebounded the Coyotes 50-33, and beat the Coyotes in points in the paint, 44-32.

The Coyotes drop to 6-8 overall while Doane improves to 5-9. The Coyotes meet Peru State at 4pm tomorrow, while Doane plays Bethany at noon, all at Mabee Arena. Peru State defeated Bethany 83-75 in the first game of the day on Friday.